In Oxnard, futurism and obsolescence meet near the beach

GRETCHEN WENNER/THE STAR
Oxnard officials contrasted the beauty of Ormond Beach with the Halaco Superfund site, whose slag pile is partially visible at left, during a tour for staff of several elected officials Friday afternoon. City leaders would like the federal EPA to prioritize cleanup of the polluted site.

GRETCHEN WENNER/THE STAR
The innards of Oxnard’s Advanced Water Purification Facility, a state-of-the-art water recycling facility, were shown off Friday to staff members of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, among others. Oxnard is angling for additional federal money to expand its massive groundwater program.

GRETCHEN WENNER/THE STAR
The education center of Oxnard’s high-tech Advanced Water Purification Facility stands in the background as Anthony Emmert, right, the city’s water resources manager, explains the facility during a tour Friday for staff of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and other elected officials. The city would like additional federal funds to expand its groundwater program.

A walking tour of two south Oxnard sites during an unusual City Council meeting Friday afternoon highlighted projects — one futuristic, one obsolete — in search of funds.

As the group left the state-of-the-art Advanced Water Purification Facility on Perkins Road to visit the Halaco Superfund site down the street, Mayor Tim Flynn noted they were transitioning eras, going from a "cutting-edge, 21st century" marvel to "a remnant of the 20th century that needs attention."

The guests of honor were there by proxy. Staff members of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, as well as representatives for Rep. Julia Brownley and state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, were on hand. Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long also attended.

The show-and-tell session served as a way to keep both projects on the minds of elected state and federal officials.

The water recycling plant, part of Oxnard's massive suite of projects meant to maximize use of local groundwater supplies, is expected to start running this summer, Water Resources Manager Anthony Emmert said. The first phase is basically complete. But the city would like to get started on key enhancements, such as storage facilities, backup power, more pipelines and another desalter. Price tag? About $120 million.

In an ideal world, the federal Bureau of Reclamation would chip in $20 million in grant funds, he said. The bureau already awarded that amount for the first phase of the facility, which cleans treated wastewater to ultra-pure standards.

"We could definitely use it," Emmert said.

At the end of Perkins Road, where the public meeting migrated, the massive slag pile at the former Halaco metals recycling facility towered at the edge of Ormond Beach. The group trekked across the sand, where a beautiful lagoon sparkled just beyond the graffiti-covered concrete wall marking the Superfund site. In the distance, orange-and-white stacks of a decades-old power plant prompted Chris Williamson, one of the city's top planners, to note the area was a reminder of the 1960s, when the city invited developers to "come to Oxnard and build nasty things near the beach."

Williamson also lamented that the city had been passed over in recent grant awards from the California Coastal Commission for an upcoming update of its local coastal plan.

"Hint, hint," he joked to the state officials' staff on hand.

Both Flynn and Council member Carmen Ramirez said they worried that cleanup of the Halaco site is being forgotten as the federal Environmental Protection Agency struggles with funding.

Mollie O'Brien, Feinstein's representative, asked the council members what message she should relay to her boss. A heightened sense of urgency? Fire under the EPA?